Book of the week (6)

Book: A thousand splendid suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Genre: Drama, Historical fiction
Release date: January, 2007
Goodreads rating: 4.30/5
About the book: This book is set in Afghanistan shifting between the stories of Mariam and Laila, two women who experienced so much misery in their unhappy lives. These women are only a little glimpse to how women were treated in that time frame in Afghanistan, they were treated like second-class, beaten, tortured and wildly wronged.
Mariam has always been neglected and hated even by her own mother. She has lead a miserable life ending up married to a cruel obnoxious man named Rasheed. On the other hand we watch beautiful Laila having a nice cheerful childhood until her life comes shattering around her and her fate leads her to Rasheed wanting to take her as his second wife.

My opinion: This is one of my all time favorites. It's such a powerful book. I remember the psychological state I was in while reading it, it was a depressing phase. The style of writing was really good and left no room for boredom, the chapters shifted between Mariam and Laila leaving us hanging at critical moments. I salute Hosseini for the idea, not everyone can pull off this style.

The characters are very well developed and you jump right into their lives experiencing all the misfortune with them. I loved knowing the characters since their youth, because then you could see what made them the way they are. You watch their life choices and fate intertwining into that great epic story. You see the imperfections, humanity and compassion.

This book was considered as a continuation of Hosseini's previous novel The kite runner in the sense of the main theme in the books FAMILY. The kite runner was a father-son story and this time A thousand splendid suns is a mother-daughter story. Hosseini has a soft spot for familial relations, it has been his signature throughout his three books and gladly I'm not tired of it yet, his stories hold so much emotions and enjoyable relationships.

Finally, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for books about people, nothing fancy just deep, heartwarming feelings. I assure you this book will leave you thinking and appreciating what you have in life more.

My rating: 9.5/10
Bonus: There have been plans for a movie production since 2009. In 2013 it was announced that the production has started and hopefully the movie would see the light by 2015.